An improved test for prostate cancer promises to improve the detection and monitoring of the most common form of cancer affecting men in the UK.

During the annual Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in March 2010, Roche in the UK has launched an enhanced portfolio of tumour markers for the early detection of prostate cancer and for monitoring response to treatment.

The new prostate cancer test from Roche, available for use by clinicians, consists of two specific assays for Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA): the Elecsys Total PSA assay and the Elecsys Free PSA assay.

PSA measurement is currently considered to be the best method for identifying the risk of localised prostate cancer. This test may help to detect cancer at an early stage, before symptoms develop, when treatment can significantly extend life.

PSA is a substance produced by the prostate that helps in the mobility of sperm. A rise above the ‘normal’ level may indicate cancer of the prostate. The measurement of percentage Free PSA helps to differentiate between cancerous and non-cancerous conditions. Used in combination, the Roche Elecys prostate-specific markers can give a valuable early indication of prostate cancer.

Ian Parfrement, Director, Hospital In Vitro Diagnostics at Roche, said: “Although there is currently no population screening for prostate cancer, there is considerable demand for the PSA test amongst men worried about the disease and therefore this is a good opportunity to raise awareness of these enhanced markers. We believe the test’s capability of early detection will help make a real difference to men all over the country affected by the disease.”

Based in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leading global supplier of in vitro diagnostics.

New MRI and imaging software solutions launched in the UK by Siemens Healthcare are designed to help hospitals cut costs by increasing their imaging productivity.

The Magnetom Aera 1.5 Tesla and Magnetom Skyra 3 Tesla MRI systems have the potential to increase patient throughput by 30% per day. The syngo.via software tool for the pre-processing of clinical images can save over 10 minutes per case.

The two new MRI systems use Tim (total imaging matrix) 4G technology to power image generation and Dot (day optimising throughput) technology to provide guidance and automated workflows, helping to standardise MRI scans across a range of patient conditions.

The syngo.via multi-modality software solution integrates with Siemens MRI, CT and PET•CT scanners and interventional imaging systems. It pulls together clinical images for interpretation and automatically pre-processes them, saving time and improving diagnostic confidence.

“syngo.via is an exciting solution for today’s health economy and well positioned to support the NHS’ QIPP agenda. It works with existing multi-modality medical equipment to improve patient throughput and clinical interpretation, which in turn enhances the quality and productivity of the service delivered to patients,” said Ronan Kirby, Image & Knowledge Management Business Manager at Siemens Healthcare.

The Aera and Skyra MRI systems have a 70cm open bore design to accommodate a variety of patient sizes and conditions. The Dot workflow engine offers real-time guidance to steer the user through complex examinations.

Jane Kilkenny, MR Product Manager at Siemens Healthcare, said “Pressures on the health service demand that imaging solutions streamline workflow and at the same time enhance the patient experience. Skyra and Aera will ensure that staff resources are better utilised, even in complex cardiac cases, and that more patients can be seen.”

 
MRI syngo.via UK launch

The new NHS Commercial Support Units will help local and regional decision-makers to support the quality and productivity agenda by building effective relationships with suppliers and independent health providers, a new DH publication explains.

Commercial Skills for the NHS sets out a strategy for supporting NHS staff to develop their commercial skills, and for supporting local commissioners and providers with a new commercial infrastructure.

The document makes it clear that the new infrastructure for NHS commissioning and procurement has the overarching goal of supporting a shift from hospital care to healthcare in the community.

The role of the Commercial Support Units in helping PCTs and SHAs to relate more effectively to the range of product and service providers on the ground, as well as to the structures (such as NHS Supply Chain) that are seeking to rationalise procurement activity at national level, is explained.

Commercial Skills for the NHS supersedes Necessity not Nicety – a new commercial operating model for the NHS (May 2009), clarifying the new infrastructure and indicating that the ‘preferred provider status’ of the NHS does not impede open competition for franchises in the redesign of service provision.

The goal of Commercial Skills for the NHS is to clarify the role of the Commercial Support Units in supporting service redesign at local and regional level, driving changes in commissioning and procurement to support quality and productivity – and thereby opening doors for innovative healthcare product suppliers and service providers.

Robotic surgery pioneer and former Health Minister Lord Ara Darzi has been appointed as NICE’s first honorary Fellow.

A total of 20 fellowships and scholarships were presented to NHS health professionals from a range of disciplines including general practice, physiotherapy, public health, radiology, paediatrics, orthopaedics and intensive care.

Professor Peter Littlejohns, Director of Clinical and Public Health at NICE, said: “We are very honoured to have such high-calibre health professionals on board for the first year of our NICE Fellows and Scholars Programme. Our appointees have been chosen for their dedication, foresight and experience in promoting clinically- and cost-effective practice in the NHS.

“While the fellowships and scholarships will provide them with opportunities to develop further in their own careers and improve the quality of healthcare in their local areas, we also hope that they will allow us to engage even more closely with the NHS and foster a growing network of individuals who are committed to promoting our core values.”

NICE awarded 10 fellowships to senior health professionals across the NHS, primarily at consultant level. They will represent the Institute within their local health and professional communities, as well as being involved in activities such as clinical audit, education and policy development.

The Institute also awarded 10 scholarships to specialist registrars and other qualified health professionals, who will undertake a variety of projects in the twelve months that they hold the post.

The Fellows and Scholars Programme was developed following recommendations made in Lord Darzi’s NHS Next Stage Review (June 2008).

NICE intends to begin its search for the Programme’s second intake of Fellows and Scholars in the autumn as part of an ongoing annual recruitment process.

 
Lord Darzi

A new USB blood glucose meter that enables users to analyse their own long-term blood glucose control has been launched in the UK and Ireland.

The Contour USB from Bayer Diabetes Care is the first blood glucose meter with ‘plug and play’ technology.

The device’s specialist diabetes management software translates up to 2,000 individual blood glucose readings into trends and patterns, giving users an unprecedented level of access to their own diabetes control data.

Use of the Contour USB has been shown to significantly reduce HbA1c levels, which is important for consistent diabetes management.

“This technology has the potential to transform the way people manage their diabetes: instead of seeing a single blood glucose level, they can now simply see and review the whole picture”, said Dr. Iain Cranston, Consultant Physician, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth.

“Up until now visualisation of this data has been difficult and people with diabetes have often just been reacting to their one-off blood glucose levels on a real-time basis, but Contour USB gives them a much bigger overview, enabling them to spot regular patterns and potential problems emerging and allowing them to take a more proactive role in their condition.”

As well as reviewing their blood glucose results, users can also send them directly to a clinician at the touch of a button.

“With the Contour USB meter, patients are able to share their results with their healthcare professional during a clinic appointment, over the phone, or via email, giving them the opportunity to make treatment adjustments,” said Dr. David Simmons, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Bayer Diabetes Care.

Based in New York, Bayer Diabetes Care was responsible for introducing the first portable blood glucose meter and test strips in 1969.

 
Bayer Contour USB meter

Nuance Healthcare, a supplier of speech recognition solutions, has appointed Simon Manley as Sales Director for the UK. Simon will lead the Nuance sales team from the London office.

Formerly with McKesson, Simon has more than eight years’ experience at a senior level within the industry. His expertise in delivering clinical and business solutions at a strategic level to the NHS will be of key importance for Nuance as it seeks to drive the adoption of speech recognition systems in the NHS and beyond.

“We are delighted to welcome Simon to our team,” said Marcel Wassink, VP Healthcare, EMEA. “His high regard for putting customer satisfaction before all else has proved to be the basis for his countless successes so far, in what can only be described as an extremely impressive career. We believe that this thinking is also at the heart of Nuance’s philosophy and the very cornerstone of our billion-dollar company.”

Simon’s appointment at Nuance immediately follows that of Peter MacKinnon as Senior Vice President and General Manager EMEA. Both appointments will help Nuance to further expand its presence in the UK and globally.

Nuance Healthcare, a division of Nuance Communications, provides speech recognition devices for communication and clinical documentation that are aimed to reduce operating costs and improve patient safety. The company’s solutions are used by more than 300,000 clinicians worldwide.

 
Simon Manley

Installing a hybrid PET•CT scanner has enabled Charing Cross Hospital in London to improve its productivity in cancer imaging by a factor of three.

The NHS hospital has used a Biograph 64 TruePoint PET•CT from Siemens Healthcare since 2008. The scanner combines PET and CT functions to provide detailed images, showing the stages of tumour development in a variety of cancers.

Using the Biograph 64, the hospital has radically increased its productivity in cancer imaging. The system offers 33% greater axial coverage of the PET field of view, which can double the clinical performance. The system also improves lesion detection, increasing diagnostic confidence and thus speeding up clinical decisions.

“The productivity of medical imaging equipment is an important factor to consider in the decision-making process, and hybrid systems are ideally equipped to deliver in this area,” said Dr. Kuldip Nijran, Consultant Physicist, Nuclear Medicine at Charing Cross Hospital. “We are now scanning on average three times as many patients per day, which is a huge increase.”

“Productivity is high on the NHS agenda as Trusts look to gain maximum efficiency and utilisation from capital investment,” said Lawrence Foulsham, Product Manager for Molecular Imaging and Oncology at Siemens Healthcare. “The PET•CT at Charing Cross Hospital has done just this, unlocking cancer management performance to save time, space and costs now and over the long term.”

 
Biograph 64 TruePoint PET•CT

A new hospital trolley that can safely carry a patient weighing up to 320kg (50 stone), enabling healthcare workers to meet guidelines for bariatric handling, has gained CE Mark approval.

The new Bariatric Trolley from Plinth 2000 is designed to reduce unnecessary patient handling and minimise the risk of client or carer injuries.

The Department of Health stated recently that obesity is “one of the biggest health challenges we face”. Almost one in four adults are currently obese.

The Bariatric Trolley is electrically powered for backrest and height elevation, with retractable wheels and an 80cm wide seat. It can be used as a recovery trolley, wheelchair or treatment couch.

The trolley’s 320-kg SWL (safe working load) is an increase of 40% over the standard SWL for hospital trolleys.

The seat is lined with memory foam that helps to prevent pressure sores. The antimicrobial vinyl cover inhibits the growth of E. coli, MRSA and other bacteria, and is certified fire retardant.

The bariatric model comes with a lifetime guarantee on the frame and major parts, with a three-year warranty on electric components.

 
Plinth 2000 Bariatric Trolley

Life science industry specialist MedilinkWM has expressed concern at Conservative Party plans to abolish regional development agencies (RDAs) such as Advantage West Midlands.

Shadow Business Secretary Kenneth Clarke and Shadow Local Government Minister Caroline Spelman indicated, in a letter to colleagues, that the RDAs would scrapped under a Conservative government and replaced with a series of “local enterprise partnerships”.

The letter said the proposals represented a “new deal” for local regeneration and economic development, with “elected councils and local businesses deciding local economic priorities”.

Tony Davis, CEO of MedilinkWM, commented: “The future of the UK’s Regional Development Agency (RDA) structure remains a topic of great debate in both the public and private sector. If the next government takes the decision to remove RDAs, the problem of how to replace their myriad functions has not been satisfactorily resolved.

“That RDAs have made significant contributions to the economic growth of their regions is accepted wisdom. They have also ensured a fairer distribution of wealth and opportunity across the UK.”

Tony Davis noted that MedilinkWM has used the support of its RDA, Advantage West Midlands, to promote life science businesses in the region by:

• providing business support to companies in the region

• developing a Market Access Guide for companies diversifying into the industry

• hosting a stand at ComPaMED every year (which generated over £1 million in business for eight companies who joined them in 2009)

• launching and operating two ‘assisted living’ demonstrator properties, allowing a wide variety of companies to showcase their products.

“Our question to the next government is,” he concluded, “how will regions compete fairly and maintain dynamic rates of progress without RDAs?”

 
Tony Davis

A new company specialises in preventing sudden cardiac death at home and in the community through the use of portable defibrillators.

The Defib Centre Ltd, based in Sussex, distributes information on sudden cardiac death, CPR training kits and the UK-manufactured HeartSine Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

Sudden cardiac arrest kills more than 2,000 people in the UK every week – more people than lung cancer, breast cancer and AIDS combined. These facts led Robin Shepherd, former Channel 5 and BBC1 Watchdog expert broadcaster, to set up The Defib Centre.

“A cardiac arrest will completely drain the life from someone within 10 minutes,” Shepherd said. “But instead of standing by and watching that happen, with a little training and an essential, affordable, easy-to-use piece of equipment, you can improve their chance of survival dramatically.”

“If an automated external defibrillator (AED) is used alongside cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) within the first 5 minutes of an attack, the survival rate goes up from less than 5% to over 60%.”

The HeartSine AED is designed for ease of use: at the size of a portable radio, with a 5-year battery life, it has only two buttons to press and no heavy paddles to wave about. A study showed that a group of 12-year-olds who had never seen an AED before successfully delivered a shock in just 23 seconds longer than trained paramedics.

Shepherd concluded: “Ask if there’s an AED in your gym, in your school, at your workplace, and if there isn’t, suggest that they get one. Our aim is to make AEDs available everywhere and for everyone, next to every fire extinguisher in the country.”

 
Defib Centre Home AED